REMINDER
Josiah Carpenter Library presents: Our
first library art exhibit featuring the ink drawings of local
resident, Gene Matras.
This exhibit will run through May 8th at
Josiah Carpenter Library, 41 Main Street, Pittsfield, NH 03623 (603)
435-8406.
The Pittsfield Area Senior Center is
hosting a Concord Regional Visiting Nurses Association program
called, “Boosting Happiness Through Emotional Wellness” on Tuesday,
March 29, at 10:30 AM. This event was rescheduled from February due
to inclement weather. Much like the seasons, people constantly
experience changes in their lives. Emotional wellness is having the
ability to understand ourselves and cope with the challenges that
life can bring. As an individual ages the opportunity to encounter,
a major challenge increases. This can include having to leave one’s
home, loss of a loved one, diagnoses of a disease, or a case of
winter blues. All of these factors can have a strong impact not only
on our bodies, but on our minds as well. Despite the obstacles, your
emotional well-being is a crucial factor of your overall health and
this workshop will discuss different strategies to manage our
emotional health in the face of change and a challenge. Please call
the Pittsfield Senior Center at 435-8482 if planning on attending.
Catamount Womenaid will hold its annual
bowling night on Saturday, April 16 at Strikers East in Raymond from
6:30 to 9:30. Teams of up to 5 persons, at $125 per team, will bowl
for 2 hours with fun prizes. Everyone can participate in vying for
raffle prizes. All proceeds go toward providing emergency financial
aid for men, women and children in Deerfield, Epsom, Pittsfield and
Strafford. Deerfield parents may take advantage of Parents’ Night
Out sponsored by Deerfield Parks and Recreation. Register online at
catamountwomenaid.org.
Letter To The Editor
The Pittsfield Food Pantry would like to
thank all those who have made monetary and food donations.
All the donations received are used to
support families in need within Pittsfield.
Also, thank you to the anonymous donor
whose donation allowed us to purchase a new freezer.
Carl O’Brien
Pittsfield Food Pantry
Josiah Carpenter Library To Host Local
Author And Travel Writer, Dan Szczesny At PMHS, April 5th
The Josiah Carpenter Library will be hosting New Hampshire author
and editor, Dan Szczesny at the Pittsfield Middle High School on
April 5th from 1:00-3:00 pm. The event will be held in the school
auditorium and will be free and open to the public. The
subject of Mr. Szczesny’s talk will focus on his book entitled “The
Nepal Chronicles: marriage, mountains, momos in the highest place on
earth,” a wonderful told travel-adventure story of the author’s
invitation to Nepal to take part in a traditional Nepalese wedding
and to then make the challenging trek to Everest Base Camp with his
wife for their honeymoon. In addition, Mr. Szczesny will focus on
his writing career and how it has evolved with various life
experiences. Being an avid hiker and outdoor adventure seeker, the
opportunity to travel and hike the terrain of the Himalayan
Mountains was an experience that provided a wonderful opportunity
for writing and sharing a monumental achievement.
The book is at once both entertaining and
real, as details unfold about the unfamiliar culture. Through
observations of geography, people, food, atmosphere and climate we
feel as if (instead of “a fly on the wall,”) we are a “mouse in the
hiker’s backpack” struggling to breathe the cold hard low oxygenated
air as the couple gets closer to their final destination. The Josiah
Carpenter Library Read, Meet & Talk book club has selected this
title as their book of the month for March. An easy list of various
words and their definitions used to describe the culture is also
available for anyone to pick up at the library.
In April of 2015, when a series of major
earthquakes devastated the region around Kathmandu where they were
married and had hiked, Mr. Szczesny and his wife were deeply
affected. They returned to Nepal in October of last year and decided
to adopt an orphanage called the “Baby Life Home” that was destroyed
when the region was struck with this tragedy that left thousands
dead, and many more injured and homeless. Through donations from the
sale of his book and some “Everest” bandanas, contributions were
made to help put a new roof on the orphanage. The Pittsfield Middle
High School has a team of students who will be leading a “one grain
of rice” campaign to raise additional funds to give to Mr. Szczesny
after his presentation for educational supplies for the kids in the
orphanage. The Friends of the Josiah Carpenter Library will also be
raffling an Eddie Bauer t-shirt, a knot making game and kit and a
few books on hiking and Nepalese culture to help with the fund
raising efforts.
The library would like to thank the Globe
Manufacturing Company and the E.P. Sanderson Fund for their generous
donation to the library, making this and other programs possible for
the community. Please contact the library at 435-8406 for more
information on this program.
Pittsfield Middle High School Inducts New
National Honor Society Members
Left to right: back row: Kyle Hamel, Chase Gaudette,
Keaton Heath, Noah MacGlashing. Middle row: Rachel Thompson, Gabe
Anthony, Hannah Conway, Cam Darrah, Katie Rollins, Emma Smith,
Meredith Smith, Tucker Wolfe. Front row: Jordyn Pinto, Emily
Dunagin, Lindsey Massey, and Savannah Godin.
The Pittsfield Middle High School chapter of the National Honor
Society proudly welcomed ten new members to its organization on
Wednesday, March 9th. The National Honor Society recognizes
outstanding high school students that demonstrate excellence in the
areas of scholarship, leadership, service, and character.
Letter
Dear Pittsfield Voters,
I am extremely thankful and appreciative
to those of you who voted to put me on the School Board. As many of
you know I am also the chairman of the Economic Development
Committee. I believe I bring fresh perspective to the board and
promise to make decisions based on what is best for our students and
the economic vitality of Pittsfield.
Thanks again for your support.
Ted Mitchell
School Board Member
A Pathway Toward Success
By Ted Mitchell, School Board Member
There has been much made of the
“possibility” of Pittsfield closing the Middle High School (PMHS)
and bussing our children to other schools. This is an inaccurate
representation of a single comment made by a resident at the final
Budget Committee hearing, reported by the Concord Monitor. This
misrepresentation has created a flurry of comments on Facebook and
poisoned the positive atmosphere that Pittsfield has enjoyed about
the progress our school is making toward student centered learning.
Let’s go back a step… Our community
gathered together in 2008 to start the process of recreating an
education system that would meet our children’s needs and get the
school back on a firm footing. Our superintendent and School Board,
with the support of the community, chartered a course that has made
PMHS an example of what a 21st century school should be like. We now
have a school known across the country for it’s innovative thinking
and progress.
In the past couple of years PMHS has been visited by educational
representatives from around the country. They wanted to get first
hand knowledge of our leadership, programs and progress. They have
sat in on various groups of students and interviewed the
superintendent, deans, teachers, students and community members. To
a person, they have expressed amazement at our unified resolve to
make our school the best it can be and how our students are
engaged in the process. They have been especially impressed in the
way our students are able to articulate their understanding of
subject matter.
These visitors have come from: the Council for Chief School
Officers/Innovation Learning Network; Brandeis University;
Enosburgh, VT; Fairfield, OH; Melrose, MA; National Governor’s
Association; NC New Schools; Biddeford, ME; Brookfield, MA;
Providence, RI; Burlington Winooski, VT; Yorville, IL; UMASS;
Platt HS, CT; Emily Richmond, Educator Writing Association;
Unleashing the Power of Partnership for Learning, VT;
Knowledgeworks; Nextgen; American Youth Policy Forum; Heinemann
Publishers; Schoolworks and Andy Littlefield, Virtual Learning
Academy. Visits from NH schools include: Kearsarge Regional HS; SAU
#23, Woodsville; Alton Central School; Litchfield Campbell HS;
Wilton-Lyndenborough Cooperative; Manchester West; Pembroke Academy;
Gilford; SAU-72, Alton and Winnisquam Regional HS. In addition, we
have been visited by international educators from: Laos, Cambodia,
Thailand and Malaysia. Requests from across the country continue for
visits to PMHS.
Pittsfield school district and PMHS
Administrators, teachers and students have visited several schools
and events around the country, including: Washington, D.C. (PMHS
Reps presented to a national education conference); San Diego, CA
and Dallas, TX. Other invitations are being received regularly.
The Atlantic, a national magazine, has published two lengthy
articles on our middle high school. Another national news magazine,
U.S. and News & World Report has listed PMHS as one of the top
20 high schools in the northeast.
Educational videos of PMHS are being used
nationally to exemplify student centered learning.
PMHS is one of the first and a top leader
in transforming schools nationwide. I am proud of what has been
accomplished but I’m well aware of the long road still to be
traveled. WE WILL GET THERE.
Letter To The Editor
To the Editor,
On behalf of the Josiah Carpenter Library,
its board of trustees and staff, I am writing to all of the voters
of Pittsfield who participated in the annual town meeting last
Saturday.
Thank you for your generous support in
approving the warrant article allotting $10,000 to the library.
Your generosity is noteworthy in these times of tough budget
decisions and rising tax rates. It is especially noteworthy
given that you made that commitment without the benefit of a
discussion, or an explanation of the reasons behind the request.
I was remiss in not getting up to tell you why that money is needed.
This $10,000 will be used to make repairs to the library foundation
and the granite retaining walls that line the handicap access.
Work done years ago exposed the foundation and water leaking into
the lower level has become a consistent problem. The cost to
make the necessary repairs exceeds what the library’s regular
operating budget can cover.
Your decision to support the library in this way is an
acknowledgment of Pittsfield’s past, and an investment in its
future. The building is an anchor for the downtown and the
institution is an asset in which every citizen may take justifiable
pride. Your vote to allocate the $10,000 is about more than a
simple question of dollars and cents.
Speaking for the board of trustees, I
applaud and thank you for your vision.
Sincerely,
J. C. Allard
Chair, Carpenter Library Board of Trustees
Thank You To The Suncook Valley Rotary
Club By Carole Richardson
It was a distinct honor to be invited to the March 16th meeting of
the Suncook Valley Rotary Club where I received a $500 donation for
the Floral Park Cemetery Fence Fund. It was especially
meaningful to me because I know how difficult it is to raise funds
for various projects. There are so many great clubs and
organizations in the Pittsfield area that have such wonderful
projects, and also benefit from the hard work of the Rotarians and
their generosity. With this donation, I now have $11,000 for
Phase 3 of the Fence Fund with another $9,000 needed by May 30th in
order to complete this year’s portion of the fence. (To date,
$51,000 has been collected out of the estimated $80,000 for the
entire project.) Thank you also to the Pittsfield
Players for the delicious meal they prepared and served.
Maundy Thursday And Easter Services
First Congregational Church, 24 Main
Street, Pittsfield, will hold a special Maundy Thursday worship
service including Holy Communion, commemorating the “Last Supper” of
Jesus, this Thursday, March 24, at 7 p.m. Special music will be
provided by the Chancel Choir and the JuBellation Handbell Choir.
On Easter Sunday, March 27, at 7 a.m., the
customary Sunrise Service will be held in the Sanctuary with
breakfast immediately following (about 8 a.m.) in the Vestry. The
traditional Easter worship service will commence at 10:00 a.m. with
special music by the Chancel Choir and JuBellation. Come and worship
at either service and join us for breakfast!
There is parking and a wheelchair
accessible entrance at the rear of the church at Chestnut Street.
For more information about either of these services, call the church
office at 435-7471 and speak with Rev. Dave Stasiak.
Letter
To the Citizens of Pittsfield,
I would like to thank everyone who came out and voted on
Election day and supported Pittsfield’s future. I also want to
congratulate Carole and Carl on their victory, I also look forward
to working with the new Board of Selectman. What a great turnout we
had on election day, I had many good discussions about our
community. I will give it my best to represent the citizens of our
community. We have a lot of work to get done and we all need to be a
part of it. Please stop by at our select board meetings, one of my
goals is to have more public involvement with all of us working
together. I look forward to serving Pittsfield.
Thank You
Larry Konopka
VA Announces Community Care Call Center
To Help Veterans With Choice Program Billing Issues
Submitted Via
Merrill Vaughan
WASHINGTON – Veterans can now work directly with the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to resolve debt collection
issues resulting from inappropriate or delayed Choice Program
billing. In step with MyVA’s efforts to modernize VA’s
customer-focused, Veteran-centered services capabilities, a
Community Care Call Center has been set up for Veterans experiencing
adverse credit reporting or debt collection resulting from
inappropriately billed Choice Program claims. Veterans experiencing
these problems can call 1-877-881-7618 for assistance.
“As a result of the Veterans Choice
Program, community providers have seen thousands of Veterans. We
continue to work to make the program more Veteran-friendly,” said
Dr. David Shulkin, Under Secretary for Health. “There should be no
bureaucratic burden that stands in the way of Veterans getting
care.”
The new call center will work to resolve instances of improper
Veteran billing and assist community care medical providers with
delayed payments. VA staff are also trained and ready to work
with the medical providers to expunge adverse credit reporting on
Veterans resulting from delayed payments to providers.VA is urging
Veterans to continue working with their VA primary care team to
obtain necessary health care services regardless of adverse credit
reporting or debt collection activity.
VA acknowledges that delayed payments and inappropriately billed
claims are unacceptable and have caused stress for Veterans and
providers alike. The new call center is the first step in
addressing these issues. VA presented The Plan to Consolidate
Community Care in October of 2015 that outlines additional solutions
to streamline processes and improve timely provider payment.
For more details about the Veterans Choice Program and VA’s
progress, visit: www.va.gov/opa/choiceact .
Veterans seeking to use the Veterans Choice Program can
call1-866-606-8198 to find out more about the program, confirm their
eligibility and schedule an appointment.
Jump Rope For Heart!
Submitted by Laura Smith, PES Physical
Education Teacher
First grade students (from left to right)
Jack Argue, Luciano Pecorino, John Schuster, Colvin St. Germain,
Catherine Butler, and Logan Leeds.
On February 19th, over 100 students and
parent volunteers joined together in the Pittsfield Elementary
School gymnasium to celebrate three weeks of fundraising for the
American Heart Association. Using long ropes, short ropes, Chinese
jump ropes, and hula hoops, students engaged in fun, heart healthy
activities. We are thankful for the parents who came and supported
our efforts by bringing a healthy snack or by simply turning a rope.
Together the Pittsfield community raised over $5,200.00! It was an
outstanding event!
Food Safety Workshop For Poultry And
Rabbit Producers The passing of House Bill 608 allows producers to
sell poultry and rabbits (up to 1000 each) directly to restaurants
in New Hampshire without USDA inspection. The bill includes a
training requirement that must be met by the producer pertaining to
food safety.
UNH Cooperative Extension is offering a
workshop for poultry and rabbit producers on Thursday, April 21 from
9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in Lee that fulfills this training requirement
and will help producers develop a working plan for providing safe
meat products for this new market. The cost of the workshop is $50
per person, including lunch, and $25 for an additional attendee from
the same farm.
Workshop pre-registration is necessary and
can be completed online by April 14 at bit.ly/FSPRP_2016. Directions
to the workshop will be provided on the registration’s confirmation
page.
For more information, contact Daimon Meeh at
[email protected] or (603)
679-5616.
UNH Cooperative Extension puts trusted
information and practical know-how in the hands of citizens and
businesses in New Hampshire. Extension is at work in every New
Hampshire county, making the state’s critical industries stronger;
developing vibrant communities and municipal leaders; fostering
healthy families and an informed and engaged citizenry, and keeping
the state’s natural resources healthy and productive.
Letter To The Editor
Well, I promised a brief outline of last
night’s selectboard meeting, so here goes; We heard from all 3
department heads. It seemed like a good time to acknowledge the
elephant in the room with regard to concerns about the size and
scope of the police department, as well as townspeople’s perceptions
of both the police department and the fire department.
I would describe the conversation as
candid. This was public session so the minutes carry more detail and
are open to everyone.
The ban on overnight parking instituted
last year was discussed with Chief Cain defending the ordinance and
several of us questioning the necessity. This is a subject that
should have input from as much of the public as possible, so the
board can administer to the satisfaction of the townspeople.
In addition, the board voted to have Larry
approach surrounding towns to determine if they might be receptive
to sharing departments such as police, fire and rescue. This
approach would spread the cost of these big budget items between two
or more towns, thereby saving costs while still providing quality
service to not only ourselves, but our neighbors as well.
A meeting will be announced for informal
public input on the parking ban, department sharing, and any other
concerns that you want addressed.
I think we got off to a good start- but
that’s all it was- a start. Much more to come.
The meeting was well attended by the
public- I personally would like to see it standing room only, so if
you can get away on a Tuesday night, we start at 6PM!
Carl Anderson
The Peace Lily
Submitted By Gini Hayes of Forget Me Not
Florist and Gifts
The Peace Lily is not really a lily at all. These
plants belong to a plant family commonly known as Spath.
Peace lilies are popular indoor plants not
only because of their rich green leaves and white “flowers,” but
because they are easy to care for. They need medium/low light and
watering only when soil is dry. In fact, they can endure periods of
drought if left unattended for short periods of time.
These plants represent peace, purity,
hope, and innocence.
They are also listed by NASA as a plant
that helps purify indoor air by filtering chemicals such as benzene.
Other sources list acetone and formaldehyde as toxins that the Peace
Lily filters.
Letter To The Editor
To the good citizens of Pittsfield,
Just got back from Town Meeting. This is
what I tried to say:
1. Oregon, Colorado, Washington, Alaska,
Washington D.C. have allowed marijuana use. Pittsfield will not be
outdone.
2. No one is going to the emergency room
over marijuana, in Pittsfield.
3. 223,671 Granite Staters - 21% of
adults, according to the State, use marijuana. There were 870,000
arrested for marjuana in this country. Last year, 60 people serving
life in prison, makes me wanna puke. This is a civil rights issue.
4. The police have the power to lock us
up. The people have the power of protest.
I’m done with Town Meeting. The time has
come to protest. See you on 4/20.
Dan Schroth Piermarocchi
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